JUST BEAR WITH ME…

…maintains that each of us has powerful and interesting stories to tell.

WHAT IS Just Bear With Me…?

This is where I tell stories with data, often using tales from my own life to provide context. My story-telling style – call it “annotated meandering” – inspired this site’s name. Just bear with me…I do get to the point.

The cover photograph shows the Vale Rio Diner, which used to sit at the intersection of Routes 23 and 113 in Phoenixville, PA. It appears prominently here.

This is also where I promote and sell my books, starting with Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive Into My Family History…and My Own.

Here is what some folks I respect say about it:

David Mayhew: “Greatly have I enjoyed your new book, which kept me glued! It all flows well. Film noir is a real fetching theme! What an expert and connoisseur you are!”

Larry Harnisch: “It’s a good one!”

Morgan Richter: “I am enjoying it immensely.”

I also promote other brilliant storytellers, because we creators need to support each other.

Matt Baume makes entertaining, intelligent and thought-provoking videos about queer representation in mass media. Here is his excellent recent book. Similarly, Jarred Corona pours out his heart in every queer-themed video he produces, doing so with insight and integrity.

If you grew up in the 1980s, you will love Richter‘s When Gen X Ruled the Multiplex series. It is like chatting with an old friend about movies.

Robin Bailes of Dark Corner Reviews mixes in-depth analyses of classic horror films with short streaming reviews and hysterical looks at truly awful horror films. Yes, he went here.

Polyphonic and Trash Theory make the best videos about the history of pop music I have ever seen.

The struggles of Matt Murray of Corn Pone Flicks with the absurd and arcane copyright rules of YouTube are legendary. His David Lynch analysis videos rank among the best.

Nick Hodges carefully separates fact from fiction in historical movies on his HistoryBuffs channel, while the folks at Kurzgezagt tell beautiful animated stories about, well, everything.

FuzzCulture makes insightful videos about the modern world’s active suppresion of creativity.

While the husband and wife team in The House of Tabula (formerly The Cinema Cartography) can be a bit pretentious, few are as passionate and knowledgeable about film as an art form. Shoutouts also to Be Kind Rewind, Cinema Cities, Thomas Flight and Patrick H Willems.

Do I agree with everything these creators say? Of course not. But they do the hard work to back up their insights and opinions, and I applaud and respect that.

THE BLOG

Since my YouTube channel is my only social media outlet, when I have something brief to say, I will put it here. Older entries may be found here.

January 28, 2026: Towards the end of my freshman year at Harriton High School, in the spring of 1981, I began to watch a series of somewhat obscure television shows that amplified and redefined my offbeat, borderline Dadaist, sense of humor. While I was no fan of Pat Robertson, his Christian Broadcasting Network aired shows from the 1950s like The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis – kind of like a precursor to Nick at Nite. I have been the only high-schooler in the early 1980s with a spot-on George Burns impression. Come to think of it, I later developed a great Robertson impression.

At various points over the next year or two, meanwhile, I found a selection of British comedies airing at 11 pm om weekdays. On Channel 29 were Doctor in the House or The Benny Hill Show, and on Channel 48 was Kenny Everett Video Show.

And by 1982, over on Channel 17, there was The Uncle Floyd Show.

Florio Vivino was a talented piano player and singer from the Newark, NJ area, raised on burlesque theatre and Italian-American recordings, who put together a local children’s show in 1974. The children were not amused by the absurdism and satire, but their older siblings loved the irreverence. The show quickly evolved into a kind of musical revue-sketch comedy hybrid aimed at children of all ages. It was local television at its finest – low-budget, spontaneous and wholly unpretentious. The cheap set was in danger of being knocked over at any moment. Howls of laughter could be heard off-camera from Floyd’s band of misfits, including “Looney” Skip Rooney, Scott Gordon, Netto, Mugsy, Charlie Stoddard and Weenie. New Jersey pride infused everything they did. Oogie the puppet became a legend.

And we in the Philadelphia area loved it. It was like watching a group of friends crack each other up while television cameras happened to be rolling.

Vivino died on January 22, 2026, aged 74, after a long fight with bladder and prostate cancer – and an entertainment legacy spanning six decades.

Rest in peace, Uncle Floyd. You will be deeply missed.

January 2, 2026: Were I a voting member of the Baseball Writers of America, these would be my 10 picks for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2026:

Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Mark Buehrle, Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez, Andruw Jones, Dustin Pedroia, Andy Pettitte, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.

It is my habit to choose the maximum 10 names to keep borderline names on the ballot, allowing time for the strongest case to be made for them.

December 31, 2025: It is perhaps fitting that I close out a tumultous 2025 by saying a final goodbye to a television series that has been a welcome guest in our home for the last six years.

I did not begin watch Stranger Things until the fall of 2019, when the first three seasons had already aired. All I did was watch the cold open of the first episode, and – as had happened almost 10 years earlier with the first few minutes of the Doctor Who episode “The Eleventh Hour” – I knew I was a goner. My wife Nell and our two children followed suit immediately.

While Season 3 was entertaining enough, I never really warmed to Season 4 (to explain would be to spoil). And I still maintain Stranger Things could easily have ended after two seasons, as the narrative arcs had reached a satisfying conclusion. Season 5 had its ups and downs, but…I am surprisingly satisfied with the way it ended.

In fact, the Duffer Brothers did something extraordinary in the final episode. Blasting through the exhaustion I was starting to feel, they reminded me – us – what had made the show great in the first place: the interlocking webs of friendships, the power of community, the notion that we are strongest when we work together, and the reality that we all continue to grow and change and ultimately need to get on with the next phase in our lives.

And so, it is with both sadness and gratitude I say a final goodbye to Eleven/Jane and Kali, to Mike and Lucas and Dustin and Will, to Nancy and Jonathan and Steve, to Max and Robin, to Joyce and Hopper, to Murray and Mr. Clark, to Erica and Holly and Vicki and Derek and Susie, to Vecna and the Mind Flayer and the Demodogs, and to all those we lost along the way.

Thank you.

BOOK WRITING UPDATES

[As of April 2025] Rather than revise Interrogating Memory (“IM”), I intend to write two new books – essentially forming an IM trilogy. The first, which draws from the first four chapters of IM, is The West Philadelphia Story: An Immigrant Jewish Journey (“TWPS”). TWPS focuses entirely on my Jewish ancestors, from their late-19th century migrations from the Pale of Settlement through my private adoption in 1966. It is another love letter to Philadelphia and my Jewish heritage, reminding us of the vital role immigrants played – and continue to play – in the economic and social well-being of the United States. The title riffs on the play and film The Philadelphia Story, which my mother, born Elaine Kohn in 1938, thought reflected life on the other side of nearby City Avenue.

I thought that once I rearranged Chapter 2 (Tragedy By the Oakford Bridge), I would have completed a full first draft of TWPS. However, I keep uncovering new information, pushing such a draft further into the future.

The second book, still in the planning stages, will have a title something like Diners and Other Idiosyncracies (“DOI”). The key theme of DOI will be the need to live own’s one life in one’s own way, while still behaving like a responsible adult. Starting with the history of my genetic families, it builds upon the last five chapters of IM. Rather than being strictly chronological, however, each chapter will explores a specific theme: identity, popular culture, mental health, solitary night driving, diners and other family restaurants, critical thinking, etc.

With a little luck and a lot of persistence, I will find a literary agent for these and all subsequent books.

WHO AM I?

Click here to learn about Matt (aka Dr. Noir).

WHAT ELSE WILL YOU FIND HERE?

The Noir of Who: Classic Film Noir’s Imprint on the Resurrected Doctor Who

Disease Testing Worksheet

WHAT DO I ASK FROM READERS?

Please continue to bear with me, while inviting others to do the same. I am grateful to everyone who clicks “Like” and comments in a respectful way. It truly is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

And if you enjoy what you read here, please consider making a donation. Simply select a “quantity” of $1 payments equal to the amount you wish to donate. For example, to make a $5 donation to Just Bear With Me, you would select “5” under “Quantity.” I adopted this Rube Goldberg method because Stripe stopped processing payments to Just Bear With Me on October 23, 2024 for…reasons.

Thank you again to everyone who visits this website! I value every single view.

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